1. Lockdown to cause job losses

Economists calculate the extended Sydney lockdown  will contract the economy and kill thousands of jobs. NSW is one-third of the Aussie economy and has 22% of the country’s workforce and the seven-week lockdown will take 1.4% off growth, which will increase unemployment levels.

2. Apple bites into BNPL bonanza

The share prices of Afterpay and Zip fell by around 10% yesterday and you can blame Apple and PayPal. Investors in the likes of Afterpay and Zip had a bad day yesterday as Apple joined the buy now pay later (BNPL) space. News says Apple was working on a plan to offer Afterpay-style instalment loans to its tens of millions of US customers with Goldman Sachs. Meanwhile PayPal has launched a rival product with no late fees.

3. A young Australian online fitness guru has sold her business for over $400 million!

Yes, her name is Kayla Itsines and along with Tobi Pearce created the Sweat App, which has now been bought by US fitness giant iFIT, which paid in cash and shares, ahead of a likely listing on the US stock market down the track.  So more money should be coming from a great new age idea, helped by the stay-at-home life under the Coronavirus.

4. New Jersey man accidentally breaks into wrong house to clean

Louis Angelino III from New Jersey cleans his friends houses as a side job and everything seemed normal when he entered a friend's condo using a key hidden under a doormat. However, when the friend called to check in, Louis said that he was still at his house playing with his cat, to which the friend replied: "I don't have a cat!". The actual homeowners were amused by the mixup and dubbed Louis the "cleaning fairy".

5. Dow and S&P 500 rise slightly

The Dow Jones ended Wednesday up 44.44 points or 0.13% to 34,933.23 and the S&P 500 moved up 5.09 points or 0.12% to 4,374.30, while the Nasdaq slipped 32.70 points or 0.22% to 14,644.95.